Cockroaches can be dealt with with your Tulsa exterminator. When the weather gets colder and things get worse outside, tropical pests such as cockroaches look for a place to stay. Our warm homes are a great haven for them during the winter months. Not only can they find shelter and warmth, but also food and water in many cases. Because of this, it’s important that we keep them out of our homes and lives. In this article, let’s take a good hard look at cockroaches, their life cycle and how we can use your Tulsa exterminator to assist us in getting rid of these from our homes.
GERMAN COCKROACHES AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
In Oklahoma, we predominantly have four different types of cockroaches. The most prolific cockroach is the German cockroach. This roach is a brown in color with a lighter tan on its pronotum. The pronotum is the hard plate structure behind the head of the cockroach. These insects are about an inch to an inch and a half long and tend to stay low. We often find them in our pantries and kitchens in many cases. These cockroaches of the most common of the pests that we find in Oklahoma.
Brown banded cockroaches are a lot like the German cockroach. It has two light colored bands around its abdomen. It’s also a brownish color and about the same size as a German cockroach. These cockroaches tend to find themselves higher up on the wall. They are also more likely to jump and flutter down to the ground beneath. Brown banded cockroaches are often connected to pantry and kitchen areas looking for food and water wherever they can.
AMERICAN COCKROACHES AND YOUR TULSA EXTERMINATOR
Next we have the American cockroach. This is the behemoth of cockroaches commonly found in Oklahoma. Clocking in at 2 to 3 inches long, this monster of a cockroach is a bottom feeder. It doesn’t prefer our food but instead likes to eat dead plant matter, waste and other refuse. We see them often in ditches and sewage areas. Often when we find the American cockroach, some form of water leak is present. Either a plumbing issue is there or there’s water coming in through the foundation of a building.
The fourth and final cockroach that we find often in Oklahoma is the oriental cockroach. These are a little smaller than the American cockroach but a little fatter as well. They’re black in color and we see them almost exclusively outdoors in ditches and sewage areas. They also are bottom feeders feeding on any trash or dead organic material that they can find. These cockroaches can also be found where ever we have a plumbing leak or a crack in the wall where water is present. If you see the American cockroach or the Oriental cockroach in your home, it’s important that you get the attention of a plumber to make sure that there are no issues in the foundation or in home plumbing.
WINGED COCKROACHES AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
Most cockroaches have wings but they do not fly. In many cases, they will use their wings to flutter down if they have to jump from a large or high object. They are also tropical insects. That means that they like warm weather and heat. In the winter months, they can’t survive out in the cold so they have to use the heat from our homes to stay alive. These insects are a food source for many different predators in the wild. Because of this, they reproduce very quickly. If you’re seeing one or two in your house, it’s not uncommon to have many more in the walls or other places in your home that you can’t see.
When dealing with cockroaches, many people will use a over-the-counter spray to kill these insects. This is not a good practice. There are two kinds of pesticides that we use. We have repellent sprays and non-repellent sprays. Both sprays will kill the insect, but repellent sprays could be sensed by the insect and those will run from that spray. Over-the-counter Raid style pesticides are almost always repellent. So when you spray a countertop or a wall, you place an unseen barrier the insects will not cross. If you spray enough of this, you will trap these insects inside the walls. When that happens, they will stay in the walls and wait for the pesticide to break down which could take weeks. In the meantime they will reproduce and double or triple their numbers. So using the spray actually creates a larger problem than you had before you sprayed anything.
ELIMINATING COCKROACHES WITH YOUR TULSA EXTERMINATOR
A good Tulsa exterminator will use a non-repellent spray in order to take care of these insects. This is a spray that the insects don’t even realize it’s there. They will walk through it and then carry it back to wherever they’re living. Once they are there, they spread the pesticide around until it wipes out the entire colony of insects. Often your Tulsa exterminator will use a gel bait as well. This is a food substance that is laced with a pesticide that these insects will consume and carry back to their young. Roaches will feed it to their young and again wipe out many of their number. Using both of these in conjunction can be a very powerful tool against cockroaches.
If you’re having an issue with cockroaches or any other pest, then its time to call in a professional Tulsa exterminator that you can trust. Here at TermMax Pest Control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with cockroaches or any other insects. We service the greater Tulsa area including Owasso, Turley, Sand Springs, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Jenks, Sapulpa, Pratville, Coweta, Claremore, Catoosa and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!